Author: CNN Newsource

By Jason Rantala

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    MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — It’s been a tough few months for Hennepin EMS in Minneapolis. Responders have seen multiple mass casualty incidents, including the deadly shooting seven weeks ago at Annunciation Catholic Church.

But now, a new four-legged member of the team is bringing comfort in the wake of tragedy.

Rigsby, a 4-month-old English Springer Spaniel, has been a valuable member of the Hennepin EMS team for two months now.

They got Rigsby through Soldier’s 6, a nonprofit that provides service and therapy dogs to military veterans, first responders and those with PTSD.

Rigby comes to work everyday with his handler, Mary Welch, who says he’s one of the most calm puppies she’s ever dealt with. He’s been a huge support for a lot of the staff, she says, and she sees it on their faces everyday.

One of Rigsby’s first weeks was during the Annunciation shooting, where his presence was crucial.

“We were able to see people who experienced one of the worst things they will probably experience in their career, and Rigsby brought a little bit of joy to their day,” said Welch, Hennepin EMS’s deputy chief of staff.

Tom Sweeny is a trainer with Soldier’s 6.

“A lot of people, they have dogs and they come home from their long day at work, they sit down on the couch, dog jumps up with them and it calms them down. It lowers the heart rate,” Sweeny said.

Soldier’s 6 gives therapy dogs to honorably discharged veterans, police officers, firefighters, paramedics, correctional officers and 911 dispatchers.

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By J.D. Miles

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    CELINA, Texas (KTVT) — The town of Celina is reacting to an emotional public apology from longtime and highly decorated high school football coach Bill Elliott, whose son was arrested for allegedly recording middle school boys undressing in a locker room.

Elliott addressed a packed school board meeting Thursday night, speaking publicly for the first time since his son, Caleb Elliott, was charged with child pornography offenses. The 26-year-old was a teacher and assistant athletic coach at a Celina middle school when he allegedly recorded secret videos of male students.

“I want you to know how sorry I am, and my family is,” Elliott said, his voice breaking during the meeting. “I understand your anger. I understand your frustration. I get it — it’s horrible.”

Elliott, who leads Celina High School’s defending state champion football team, said he wants justice to be served in the criminal case and emphasized his commitment to the community.

“I want justice to be done, and justice will be done,” he said.

The coach’s heartfelt remarks resonated with many in the room, including Choc Christopher, a former Celina school board member and Elliott’s next-door neighbor.

“I’m amazed that he can do that. Most people cannot do what he did,” Christopher said. “But that’s just who he is. It was the ultimate display of courage, of his integrity. I mean, he’s devastated about what has happened.”

Christopher added, “He could have stayed at home. He could have been quiet. But that’s just not the kind of man he is.”

Despite the controversy, some residents say their support for Elliott remains unwavering. Steve Carey, a former Celina football player, said the coach still has his full backing.

“I have had three kids go through his program — two of them football players — and I am so proud that they played for him,” Carey said. “I would love for any kid that I have or grandkid to play for him again.”

From storefronts along the town square to Friday night lights, high school football is deeply woven into the fabric of Celina. That makes Elliott’s role as head coach especially significant.

“I’ve spent 33 years of my life here. My family’s poured into this place,” Elliott said. “I love our kids. I love watching our kids play.”

His speech drew applause from the crowd, and friends say they hope it goes a long way toward restoring confidence in the coach and the school community.

“It was the ultimate display of courage, of his integrity,” Christopher said. “He’s devastated about what has happened.”

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By Nikki Hauser

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    NASHVILLE (WTVF) — A new tool at the Nashville International Airport (BNA) is shining a light on accessibility.

The launch of a new app called GoodMaps is providing special technology for people who have trouble seeing or hearing.

With vibrations, audio cues and large text, the app helps anyone with vision or hearing issues get around the airport easier.

“It was awesome, it was like one of the most normal things I’ve done in 3 years,” laughed Katie Smith, who went blind three years ago.

Not only was she able to find her gate, but she could do it all without an obligatory wheelchair.

“The airlines are great, they’ll offer to give you assistance, but their version of assistance, no matter what, is they want to pop you in a wheelchair and take you through security and dump you at your gate because it’s faster and easier for them. Well, my eyes stopped working, not my legs,” she explained.

“It’s very helpful and I love being able to have the same independence I did 7 years ago when I had sight as well,” added Kevin Kline, a local who worked on the GoodMaps app.

He’s also blind and communicated with BNA on this exciting project for some time now. So far, it’s had 5,000 total uses.

“You know, we’re just trying to make it to where I have the same experience as anyone else,” he said.

“To have an app that is so simple to use, that if you can vertically hold a phone, and walk or wheel, it’s life-changing. It makes you be able to do that one thing, just like anybody else,” added Katie.

In Tennessee, you can find GoodMaps at the airport and at the Tennessee State Library and Archives Building.

Kevin says the next airport to have GoodMaps will be Memphis, and there are hopes to get into even more local buildings soon.

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By Heidi Kirk

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    RALEIGH, North Carolina (WRAL) — Some fairgoers were left dangling 100 feet in the air when a ride at the North Carolina State Fair stopped due to a low-voltage issue.

The ride, which is known as The Vertigo, spins riders on swings high above the fairgrounds. Video shared with WRAL News shows the ride stopped on Thursday afternoon.

“All I could think is…’we’re going to drop,'” said Hannah Norris.

Norris said she has been coming to the fair for as long as she could remember, and the rides have always been her favorite part. After riding the Vertigo on opening day, she’s changed her tune.

“I just started praying. Me and Liam, that’s my son, we just start saying a prayer,” she continued.

North Carolina Department of Agriculture spokesperson Heather Overton said the ride stopped automatically due to a low voltage fault that triggered the safety procedure stopping the ride. It is a safety system she said that performed “exactly as intended.”

“The ride came to a controlled stop, allowing for the safe and timely manual evacuation of all patrons. At no point was anyone at risk.”

Officials said the riders were lowered to the ground within 45 minutes. The ride was reset and approved to start again immediately, Overton said.

While not at risk, Norris told WRAL News it was a scary experience and is something she’ll never forget.

A spokesperson with the company that owns the ride said anyone who was stuck, can contact them for a complimentary ride.

Inspectors with the North Carolina Department of Labor checked nearly 100 rides at the fair before it opened on Thursday.

North Carolina state law requires portable rides, like those used at the fair, to undergo inspection at each new location.

Five people were seriously injured Oct. 24, 2013, at the North Carolina State Fair, when The Vortex – a ride known for its wild twirls and flips – started moving while people were getting off and dropped some unsecured passengers 20 feet onto the ride’s metal floor.

A criminal investigation found that a safety mechanism designed to keep the ride from moving had been disabled. The ride’s operator, Timothy Dwayne Tutterrow, and owner, Joshua Macaroni, were later arrested in the case.

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By Alecia Reid

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    NEW YORK (WCBS) — Body parts were found outside a Brooklyn building Friday.

Officials say construction workers were standing by the garbage outside a building on East 21st Street near Ditmas Avenue in Flatbush when they smelled something foul and called police.

When officers arrived, police said they found a man’s head and torso.

Police have not yet identified the victim or a suspect.

An NYPD officer was seen guarding the hallway on the sixth floor of the building as the department waits for a search warrant to enter an apartment.

Neighbors believe the victim is a man who lived on the sixth floor of the building with his partner.

“The apartment was in the short one’s name, and the tall one was always, like, violent with the short one,” neighbor Eduardo Lemus said.

Neighbors told CBS News New York they had heard the couple fighting, along with banging on the walls.

“They used to punch in my wall in the other side,” neighbor Julio Hernandez said.

“The last couple days, it was heated,” neighbor Phyllis Larrier said. “I think the other young man was not letting him in, wouldn’t let him, because he was banging on the door.”

Neighbors said they saw signs of abuse and described the victim as timid.

“He was shy. He wasn’t like this [other] one, bold and bombastic,” a neighbor named Marcia said.

According to neighbors, a few days ago, the noise from the couple’s apartment stopped and a pungent smell started brewing in the hallway.

“Last night when we came in … he was burning incense. That’s the first time I heard there was incense was burning in the hallway. That’s unusual,” Larrier said.

There are cameras throughout the building, including one on the sixth floor facing the elevator.

The violence has shaken the community.

“It’s crazy to think somebody would just, you know, do it and just leave the person right there,” Lemus said.

“Shocking. Very shocking. Because I’ve lived here since 2004, and we’ve never had an incident of this magnitude in this block,” neighbor Thomas Williams said.

Police have not released further details at this time.

The investigation is ongoing.

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By Leondra Head

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    ATLANTA (WUPA) — Homecoming season across the Atlanta University Center continues as Spelman and Morehouse College enjoy their annual tradition.

You can always count on a lively atmosphere as current students and alumni gather on campus to celebrate. One person who knows the feeling better than anyone is Annie Jewel Moore, the oldest living Spelman alumna.

This September, Moore celebrated her 106th birthday. She graduated from Spelman in 1943 with a degree in economics.

“The economics of war, the war was going on during my time,” she said.

After her graduation, Moore was one of the first Black women to study fashion design at Paris’ Ecole Guerre Lavigne and the New York Fashion Academy. She eventually launched her own boutique, Ann Moore Couturiere, in Detroit in 1951.

“I had individual customers and I would do a collection every year. It was across the street from Motown.”

She broke barriers with her work in Vogue in 1953, two years after starting her company.

“If they would have known I was African American, they wouldn’t have accepted it, but I didn’t try to disguise it,” Moore recalled.

She said she put her dress on a white model to increase her chances of getting into the storied magazine.

“She was Caucasian and Vogue hadn’t run any Blacks before then,” she said.

During her time in the industry, Moore crafted timeless pieces, from office wear to dinner party wear. A dress she made in 1967 is on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center.

Spelman’s homecoming wasn’t elaborate back then as it is today, she said.

“I went, and it was a big event for the Spelman students, but it wasn’t a big event for me because I didn’t have a boyfriend,” she said.

Her secret to living a long life? A social life full of laughter with her friends.

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By Anna Meiler

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    SWANSEA, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A worker at a residential therapeutic school in Swansea, Massachusetts has died after she was allegedly assaulted by a student on Wednesday night.

Meadowridge Academy staff member Amy Morrell, 53, of Riverside, Rhode Island, was allegedly kicked in the chest by a 14-year-old female student resident.

The student was allegedly attempting to leave a dorm building without permission when the physical interaction occurred at approximately 6:55 p.m., according to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.

Morrell and other staff were attempting to restrain the girl, according to investigators. Shortly after being kicked, Morrell collapsed. Other staff members began CPR and called 911.

Swansea Police along with the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office responded to the school.

Morrell was taken to a nearby hospital overnight and was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon.

Friends and family of Morrell were shocked to hear the news.

“I’m upset, obviously. It just keeps hitting me,” said Andrew Ferruche, a close family friend, adding she truly loved her job at the school despite its challenges.

“I still expect to get a text from her,” Mel Lynch said Friday. Lynch said that she had just seen Morrell for breakfast on Monday.

Morrell’s loved ones described her as “the most patient, kindest person.” They said that she was very funny and was “the life of the party.”

“She definitely cheered people up on a regular basis,” Ferruche said.

Lynch explained that she had met Morrell at a previous job and had stayed in touch. She said that Morrell loved working at the school, having found her calling. Ferruche agreed, saying that Morrell thought that job was “rewarding.”

“She loved those girls,” Lynch said. She added that Morrell was an only child who was “her parents’ world.”

“A real loss. A loss for that school, a loss for us, and I think of her parents,” she said.

Ferruche shared a text message he received from Morrell where she wrote, “Being kind to other people definitely makes me feel better…My job is helping kids with troubles so it’s pretty rewarding.”

But both Lynch and Ferruche are left with questions about how this could’ve happened.

“If this girl was that violent, what was she doing in that setting with other kids?” she asked.

“How many staff members have been hit in the last two weeks alone? That should be the question asked of them,” Ferruche said. “And I guarantee it has been multiple people who have been hit by this same girl.”

Ferruche said he blames the school for the incident and hopes that they institute change so that something like this never happens again.

“This school should have had way better safety protocols. I don’t know if they locked the doors. I don’t know why Amy had to tackle her to get her, stop her from leaving,” Ferruche said.

“Based upon the initial investigation, the juvenile was charged with Assault and Battery causing Serious Bodily Injury,” the district attorney’s office said. The girl, who has not been identified, was arraigned Thursday in Fall River Juvenile Court. The investigation remains active and ongoing.

“The Meadowridge Academy community is deeply saddened by the passing of direct care staff member, Amy Morrell,” the school said in a statement Thursday night. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to Amy’s family during this difficult time. Support services and resources are available to assist students and staff as we grieve this tragic loss.”

According to data from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in the 2023-24 school year, staffers at Meadowridge restrained students 23 times, none resulting in injuries.

A Disability Law Center investigation from 2018 shows a number of police incidents at the school, more than 140 between 2014 and 2016. A high number of calls were for runaways and assaults.

Meadowridge Academy is located on Stevens Road in Swansea. According to its website, it is a “therapeutic residential school providing comprehensive treatment to youth and young adults with mental health issues, behavioral difficulties, and complex trauma histories.”

Swansea is a town in southeastern Massachusetts, about 50 miles from Boston.

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By Pat Reavy, KSL.com

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    HUNTINGTON, Utah (KSL) — An Emery County man was arrested Wednesday after police say he made threats to shoot people at the upcoming BYU-Utah football game.

Christopher Tai Justice, 28, of Huntington, was booked into the Emery County Jail for investigation of making a threat of violence and obstruction of justice.

Tuesday night, someone on X, formerly Twitter, made several posts under @juiceisloose328 such as “Nah, anyone wearing red on Saturday is getting shot,” “enjoy a bullet to the head,” “Any Ute fan (I) see is dead. Mark my words” and “I’ll never forget the amount of hatred I felt for Utah sitting front row for the 54-10 beat down in 2011.”

The account later posted, “I apologize for the awful tweets. I’m logging off and deactivating now.”

By Wednesday, the account was “locked.” But not before several concerned people contacted police. That prompted an investigation that included local, state and federal authorities.

Wednesday, the Emery County Sheriff’s Office was contacted by the Statewide Information and Analysis Center with the Utah Department of Public Safety after linking Justice to the alleged threat “to shoot Utes fans at the upcoming BYU vs Utah game,” according to a police booking affidavit. “(The state) told me that Tai had switched his account to private and had deleted most of the messages.”

A deputy, along with Justice’s probation officer, went to his home. Justice initially claimed “that he had deleted Twitter almost over a year ago and that he would never say anything like that,” the affidavit states.

However, the probation officer located the X app on his iPad.

Then, after linking the account with his cellphone, the probation officer “went through his phone and found some texts between him and a friend talking about the account in question. In the messages, they discuss deactivating the account. At one point in the conversation, Tai tells his friend, ‘I’ll say I didn’t post them or it’s not my account if it goes this far’ when talking about being confronted by the police,” the affidavit alleges.

When confronted with this information, Justice allegedly admitted to making the social media posts. “He then told us that he lied to us because he was scared of what could happen,” the affidavit says.

Justice, who has a history of driving on a revoked license or while intoxicated, according to court records, was on probation at the time of his arrest Wednesday after being convicted of DUI for the second time in less than 10 years.

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